Holmes says the risk of children dying of malnutrition is the most urgent [AFP]

Of the 45,000 locals in need of food, only 38,000 are receiving help due to low government supplies, according to aid groups.

Soaring commodity prices have worsened the crisis.

In May, the WFP said the price of staples such as maize and sorghum, a cereal grain crop, had increased by about 90 per cent in less than a year, while wheat increased by 54 per cent between September 2007 and February 2008.

In recent years, Ethiopia has suffered alternate flood and drought disasters that has affected millions of people.

Holmes said on Monday relief operations were underway across the country, "but we need to make sure it reaches everyone".

"We need to make sure that [food shortages] don't degenerate into a famine that we've seen before," he said.